(Photo: Dozens of scuba divers from South Dakota and Minnesota pursue their hobby not only in local lakes and rivers but also in the Caribbean. Provided by Steve Nedved)
By: Billy Gibson
It’s a sunny springtime Saturday morning and outdoors enthusiasts all across the state are buzzing with excitement to kick off another weekend adventure.
They’re saddling up their horses, slinging their fishing gear into their boats, cranking their ATVs and lacing up their hiking boots.
In a small shop just south of Mitchell, there’s a different kind of energy and amped-up anticipation filling the air. Steve Nedved is busy rigging up scuba tanks and inspecting air regulators for about 20 fledgling divers eager to learn a new skill and experience new thrills.
Nedved is owner of Dakota Scuba and he’s finding that more and more adventurists are becoming interested in exploring the aquatic world through a fisheye view, whether that’s in the chilly waters of the Missouri River or the crystal-clear surf of the Caribbean.
While the scuba diving season in the Upper Midwest is relatively short, Nedved stays busy most months out of the year teaching scuba lessons in the Mitchell area and tending to vacationing clients from his Villa Dakota retreat in Cozumel.
It turns out that he and his student-clients can board a plane in Sioux Falls at 7 a.m., make a quick stop in Dallas-Ft. Worth, and be ready to hit the water in Cozumel just after lunch.
“It works out pretty well, and people love to take a fall and winter vacation and explore Cozumel, which is one of the best spots for diving because the visibility can be more than 100 feet and there’s so much marine life to see,” Nedved said.
The master diver’s interest in scuba was sparked back when he was a firefighter and paramedic in Mitchell. After responding to too many emergency situations involving bodies of water, he and his colleagues decided they needed to be trained in diving as part of meeting their professional responsibilities and serving the public.
He received his certification in short order and later decided to venture down to Cozumel to earn his teaching certification through the Professional Association of Dive Instructors so that he could be qualified to train his colleagues back in Mitchell.
He and his wife Nancy, who together own the Nedved Media radio network, fell in love with the tropical paradise and after a dozen diving trips decided it made sense to purchase a home right on the water. Before he knew it, he found many others were beating the same path to Mexico to enjoy the sun, sand and scuba adventures.
“I didn’t really start it with the intention of going public, I just didn’t realize at the time how much interest there was,” he said. “People around here in Mitchell started asking me to train them for recreational certification and then they’d dive here or they’d go to Florida or Cozumel on vacation with their families. We started renting out our place in Cozumel to accommodate people during the times we couldn’t be there ourselves.”
He also noticed an increasing interest in spearfishing in places like the Oahe Downstream Recreational Area and Pactola Lake in the Black Hills, so he decided to open the shop to serve as a local and regional outfitter.
Nedved, who has logged more than 1,000 dives since he started in 2006, uses the Mitchell Recreation Center for local training and has played a role in certifying individuals from age 10 to 70.
“It’s not that physically laborious or difficult. Of course, you have to be in condition as with any kind of outdoor sport, but it’s not inherently dangerous in any way if you follow the guidelines,” he said.
Allen Hiller of Pierre is one of Nedved’s recent protegees. Though he had done some snorkeling and diving at sites like Sully Flats, Cow Creek and below the Oahe Dam, Hiller decided he wanted to kick his scuba game up a few notches. So he enlisted Nedved’s services and spent eight days at Villa Dakota last March earning his open water diving certificate.
At the age of 53, Hiller is a veteran of Desert Storm and Desert Shield, a former diesel and aircraft mechanic, and spent nearly 20 years working for the Union Pacific Railroad in North Platte, NE. He describes himself as an avid hunter and fisherman who is always up for an adventure. Since his visit to the Caribbean, Hiller says he wants to expand his knowledge and experience underwater.
“I really caught the diving bug being down there in a beautiful part of the world with the sun and the sand and the clear water where it seems like you can see forever. I want to continue on and get my PADI certification, my night diving certification, and become a master diver,” Hiller said. “I also want to do a lot of spearfishing and learn how to get better at it. Steve was really great to work with.”
Nedved said that once his students become accustomed to the awkward act of breathing through a mouthpiece, they begin to relax and enjoy the experience of discovering a new environment with different lights, colors and sounds.
“People like to hunt for fish and explore underwater quarries and see what’s on the bottom of the river bed,” he said.
“When I take them out for the first time, we can’t really speak when we’re underwater, but when we come up they start chatting away with excitement about the things they saw. It’s really addictive. You rarely see just one person in a family that’s a diver. Usually, after one person does it, the others have to follow. It’s a good sport for a lot of people.”